The water table levels in almost all 2,300 dams in Maharashtra, and four main dams in Mumbai, are dipping fast.

A group of agriculturists from Raigad and Thane districts has written to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan that the expansion of Mumbai city has adversely affected the quality of agricultural land in these areas.

The farmers demand that the state government should direct the collectors of both the districts to examine the issue and submit a report to the state government.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed schools and other educational institutions to stop the sale of tobacco and other tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institutions and also to minors. The civic administration will now take stringent steps to ensure that no tobacco products are sold outside school and college campuses.

The BMC has directed that licence of all vendors, hawkers or shopkeepers found selling tobacco products near the vicinity of schools and colleges should be revoked.

Rising trends in malnutrition among children under six here and in other cities have prompted the Maharashtra government to introduce an Urban Malnutrition Mission from next month, official sources said. A quarter of children below six years in the city weighed at anganwadis are underweight, according to the latest monthly progress report (MPR) of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Non-governmental organisations point to a severe crisis of primary health services and lack of adequate number of anganwadis in slum areas.

After a number mosquito-breeding spots were found in upmarket localities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to spread malaria control awareness in residential localities this monsoon.

The civic administration is preparing to put up posters carrying malaria prevention messages in over one lakh residential colonies and apartments. Manisha Mhaiskar, Additional Municipal Commissioner, said, “The popular perception is that mosquities breed only in slums or construction sites,

It's summer vacation time for Vaishali Koli. But, for this eight-year-old from Degaon village in Dhule's Shindkheda taluk, the months of April and May do not mean summer camps and hobby classes. They mean long hours of filling water at hand pumps in her village, one of many in Maharashtra hit by scarcity. “I fill 20 steel pots everyday, twice,” she says, pumping water on a hot afternoon. Hoisting one vessel on her head, and fitting the other on her waist, she says, “I don't know if this is better than giving exams,” speaking to The Hindu earlier this week.

MUMBAI: The standing committee, which is yet to pass the budget proposal, is likely to make changes before passing it.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed developer Niranjan Hiranandani to submit a revised plan for building houses for middle and low-income groups in Powai to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The civic body has been asked to take a decision on the new proposal by June 15.

The court also maintained that all construction in the scheme must be for weaker sections as per the tripatrite agreement between the developer, the BMC and the MMRDA.

The Centre has granted chief minister Prithviraj Chavan a whopping Rs12,300 crore to implement various mega projects in the state.

Following several debates among members of the civic standing committee over banning plastic bags to prevent choking of drains in the city, the BMC will now let its municipal market inspectors impose a fine on errant shopkeepers. At present, use of plastic bags thinner than 50 microns is banned.

While a complete ban on plastic bags can be introduced only by the state government, at present only BMC ward officers have the authority to punish those found using plastic bags of lesser thickness. Such bags are largely responsible for choked drains during monsoons, which leads to flooding.